Land Use

Austin Updates Small-Lot Amnesty Program

The city of Austin has approved land use regulation changes on one of those traditional hot button planning issues: small-lot developments.

March 31, 2016 - Curbed Austin

Study: There's Too Much Parking in Chicago

With underground parking spaces costing $37,000 and more to build in Chicago, it might come as a shock that a recent study found much more parking supply than demand around the city's apartment buildings.

March 31, 2016 - Chicago Tribune

Parking

Parking Requirements and Housing Prices: More Questions Than Answers in Portland

The city of Portland is considering an expansion of parking requirements in Northwest Portland, much to the chagrin of advocates who predict the new requirements will make housing more expensive.

March 30, 2016 - Bike Portland

The Codes Study Is Updated

618 form-based codes made it on the latest Codes Study. The authors are requesting your additions to the update.

March 30, 2016 - PlaceShakers

Benchmarks: Places on the Move Measure Up

All Planetizen readers should read the full 200-page Bicycling and Walking in the United States: 2016 Benchmarking Report. If you haven't taken the time yet, Hazel Borys shares some of the best bits.

March 29, 2016 - PlaceShakers

China High Speed Rail

U.S. Won Space Race but Lost High Speed Rail Race

The U.S. ranked 19 out of 20 for countries with high speed rail service according to a new survey by GoEuro.

March 27, 2016 - Grist

Beijing Plan Model

The 3,000-Year-Old Document That Planned Beijing

The Guardian Cities details how the Kaogong Ji brought an ancient order to the sprawling city of Beijing.

March 25, 2016 - The Guardian Cities

Chicago Mayor Emanuel Announces Park Plans to a Skeptical Audience

In a much-hyped address earlier this week. Mayor Rahm Emanuel chose the title "Building on Burnham" to describe his survey of the Chicago's ongoing and future plans to develop parks and open space.

March 25, 2016 - Chicago Tribune

Atlanta BeltLine

On Atlanta's BeltLine and 21st-Century Infrastructure

In an interview, Atlanta BeltLine visionary Ryan Gravel discusses the ongoing project and how it fits an emerging, multidisciplinary understanding of what good infrastructure can be.

March 24, 2016 - Streetsblog USA

Vehicle Assembly Building Cape Canaveral

Cape Canaveral in Flux

Caught between the end of the space shuttle and the potential rise of private sector spaceflight, Cape Canaveral and the Kennedy Space Center present a unique land use challenge.

March 24, 2016 - CityLab

Detroit Street Art

Backers Still Optimistic on Detroit Placemaking

After three years, an ambitious placemaking plan for downtown Detroit has delivered results, but not as quickly as its architects hoped.

March 24, 2016 - Crain's Detroit Business

Visualizing Parking in the City of Brotherly Love: Parkadelphia

An intrepid city employee created Philadelphia's first mapping tool for visualizing the layers of regulation and management that govern when, when, and how people park in Philadelphia.

March 24, 2016 - Plan Philly

New York City Council Approves Sweeping Zoning Changes

Politico New York reports all the important details on a big day for planning in New York City—as the City Council overwhelmingly approved two controversial zoning changes to help spur the construction of affordable housing.

March 24, 2016 - Politico New York

Anchorage Updates Land Use Plan Map

After 34 years the Municipality of Anchorage is updating its land use plan map, a companion piece to its comprehensive plan adopted in 2001. The land use plan map sets the stage for future growth and development in this Northern City of 301,000.

March 23, 2016 - Alaska Public Media

Surface Parking

Munich Builds New Housing Over Parking Lots

Fed up with all the extra space parked cars occupy, residents of Munich have turned to affordable housing built over already-existing parking lots. The wood-frame structures will be prefabricated and assembled quickly.

March 21, 2016 - CityLab

A collaborative art project

What Is Placemaking, Really?

It's a term that gets bandied about by the "creative class" to describe an endless array of projects, from whimsical pop-up art to new uses for century-old buildings. But what does placemaking really mean?

March 21, 2016 - Comstock's Magazine

Southern California Association of Governments Stalling on CEQA Reform

One of the largest, most influential regional governments in the state has asked for exemptions from changes to the California Environmental Quality Act (CEQA) that will measure Vehicle Miles Travelled (VMT) instead of Level of Service (LOS).

March 19, 2016 - Streetsblog California

Los Angeles Voters Won't Decide on Anti-Development Measure in November

Saying that their controversial "Neighborhood Integrity Initiative" would be 'buried' in a November ballot, the Coalition to Preserve L.A. will revise it and gather signatures to put it on the March ballot next year.

March 17, 2016 - Los Angeles Times - L.A. NOW

Austin Mixed-Use

Austin Denies Mixed-Use Zoning Change

Following concerns that the change would threaten Thornton Road Studios, a collection of arts and music businesses, the Austin City Council struck down a measure that would allow mixed-use development on the site.

March 17, 2016 - Austin Monitor

Seattle Seeks Density as New Normal

Seattle architect David Neiman writes about his city's attempt to find a new housing form that results in a denser city as appealing as the single family fabric that came before it, while managing all the cars.

March 16, 2016 - Crosscut

FREE Course: Walkable City 1: Why Walkability?

After describing his path towards focusing on walkability as the essence of good planning, Jeff Speck marches through his five principal reasons for making more walkable places.

Reinventing Malls: Planning Alchemy—Turning Gray Fields Into Gold

The course focuses on the opportunities and imperatives that shape reinvention of mall sites.

Top Books

An annual review of books related to planning.

Top Schools

The definitive ranking of graduate planning programs.

100 Most Influential Urbanists

The who's who of urbanism, according to Planetizen readers.

Urban Planning Creators You Should Know

A short list of voices on social, video, and podcasting platforms.